The event scene is always changing. New tech innovations are coming out day after day, with new and different influences happening. When COVID-19 hit, things seemed bleak, but it ultimately led to enhanced innovation, especially in the events industry. Bringing a market to remote events, and ultimately leading to the current state, which is targeted towards hybrid style events. With that being said, webinars weren’t the only new innovation for hosting your events. Let’s take a look at some of the most dynamic technologies that are changing the game and revolutionizing the way events are marketed before, during and after.
Engagement is an Experience
What do you remember about the last event you attended? Probably not a lot. Usually the most memorable events bring real value, make great use of your time, but also have unique tech, speakers, or location. It’s the combination of these aspects that 1) leave an impression, but more importantly 2) make you want to attend next year, and bring all your colleagues. Here’s some of my favorite tech innovations in event marketing that have left the best impressions.
Smart Wearables at Events
Smart wearables are a great way to make attendees feel pretty cool, while collecting loads of first-party data. Wearables like smart badges use RFID or NFC technology to enhance the attendee experience, providing a more exclusive experience. Smart wearables are used for check-in and session tracking, lead generation, and personalized content delivery. Additionally, having the ability to track guest traffic flow and behavior gives event organizers additional insights into planning for the next year.
Smart wearables help event organizers gather precise data to show the value of investment to exhibitors and sponsors by highlighting the return of being a part of their events. This data also helps calculate ROI and justify the cost of attending their events through measurable results such as lead generation.
Facial Recognition
Facial recognition is a high-tech feature of some events that is essentially there to reduce the friction of registration, and increase event security at the same time. It’s an event technology feature that brings both a memorable experience to attendees, while solving multiple problems with the in-person experience of events.
Facial recognition is used in many different event spaces. In sports, it is commonly used to spot criminals, but also has been used to purchase tickets, enter the venue, and engage fans. In the conference space, facial recognition helps define access control for authorized staff, perform various ID checks at registration, and gather data for event optimization – much like smart wearables. It is also possible to use facial recognition for personalization. YSL Beauté launched their new perfume Mon Paris Couture in Hong Kong, and used facial recognition to create personalized and engraved perfume bottles. Participants uploaded their own photos through a page coded in HTML5, and consumers could stand in front of the kiosk for facial verification, and the system takes care of the rest. Once verified, the perfume bottles would be engraved on the spot instantly. This is just one example of the creative ways facial recognition has a place in your event technology mix.
Real-Time Interactive Content
Interactive content is always changing and creates great results. If you’re trying to build hype, generate real-time feedback, or increase overall engagement for your events, real-time interactive content is a great tool to help strengthen your tech mix.
In live and hybrid events, you can add a bit of fun with CredSpark’s live event mode. With live event mode, participants can take a quiz or survey, and leaderboards will be updated in real-time.
Gamification is a powerful method to increase engagement and reduce friction in lead generation strategies. Adding in a bit of fun has never been a bad thing for your attendees, and is more likely to help make your event a more memorable experience. There are many ways to incorporate gamification into your events, but some of the best ways are in trivia and badging. Trivia, combined with CredSpark’s live event mode, brings a great experience that grabs attendees’ attention and actually engages them with the content they are being presented with.
Event engagement technology is always going to be under constant development. It’s up to event managers and marketers to understand how different technologies can make your life easier and generate the results you’re looking for. Technology tools for events unlock avenues to collect data, increase engagement, and assist your exhibitors and sponsors to make sure they’re getting return on their investment.
Connections are an Investment
Let’s not forget the real investment at hand here. Bringing depth to your technology landscape can be intimidating and risky, but it’s hard to call it a leap of faith. If you’re interested in bringing real-time feedback and engagement to your events, let us know. If you’re still on the fence about bringing real-time engagement to your events, check out our next article, Live Event Engagement: The Answer to Hybrid Events, where we take a deeper look at the use cases for live event engagement, and how they can make your event one for the records.
